[embed width="610" height="340"]http://youtu.be/KPq3xaq3bCA[/embed]
Crashtrastic's first level began by giving me a simple goal: "You must move at least 10 meters". It then placed me in to the game's editor mode, the camera pointed at a tall, skinny robot sat in a chair. I clicked the rocket icon at the bottom of the screen, and attached it to the bottom of the seat. Then I clicked go. The robot was instantly flung across the room as the chair spiraled through the air, landing a short distance away. "YOU WIN", said the game. I travelled 10 metres.
I ignored the next level button and pressed "Retry". I added four more rockets to the underside of my chair, and then hit go again. When vehicle construction and physics combine, everybody wins.
Crashtastic is being made by Mark Smith, and is one of the submissions to this year's Independent Games Festival. The build I've been playing with has around ten levels, each with a similarly basic goal: to reach the finish line, to hit the jump, to ram an oncoming vehicle. Eventually it gets a little harder, forcing you to build cars with sturdy frames, ramming grills, and a cage around your robot. But failure is part of the fun, and the more complicated my creations became, the more pieces there were to scatter across the level when I'd inevitably smash in to a wall.
Right now the official Crashtastic site is low on details, but we'll keep you posted.
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